


The Face of the Smitten Idiot

by zzren



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: Eventual Fluff, Felix Gaeta actually gets to be happy for once, Fluff and Crack, I have no clue but I like it, I love commslash, Karl and Felix are buddy buddy, M/M, Romantic Comedy, Starbuck ships them just like the rest of us, apparently Louis like sports???, come on guys, eventual scene where they all get smashed and bad things ensue, help me, is that their ship name?, literally they deserved so much better, so get ready, there will be cuddling I promise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26465494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zzren/pseuds/zzren
Summary: No one aboard the Galactica was expecting a superior Battlestar to appear on the DRADIS that day. Especially not Felix Gaeta, who was the first to locate the unidentified contact. While the events of the arrival of the Battlestar Pegasus brought many woes and fear, for him, it brought him the opportunity to finally find something he had been lacking for a long time.
Relationships: Felix Gaeta/Louis Hoshi
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Okay first off, this is the first thing I've posted on here in a loooooooooong time (I lost my old login and had to get a new one) so here I am again! 
> 
> Second, this is a shameless project that began as a joke and slowly morphed into a legitimate story. I love Felix and Louis with all of my heart and think they deserved more than what they got, a consensus I'm sure many Gaeta/Hoshi fans can agree on. So here's my attempt at trying to make them at least a bit happier.
> 
> Third, I must give props to CollidingScope for the name idea, who listed a similar name idea in the notes of their Gaeta/Hoshi fic,If Only The Toasters Had Been Roasters, which by the way, is one of my favorite fics of all time, so please go check them out and support their work!
> 
> Fourth and finally, for the love of god please don't take this **too** seriously. Like stated before, this started as a joke and therefor  
>  much of the body of this story is purely for making me happy. Anywho, hope y'all enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it. (Also as of now chapter one is NOT beta read so sorry if things are all over the place)

“Bogey just jumped into DRADIS range, CBDR. From the size of it, it’s probably a Cylon bay ship,” Felix alerted the Commander. 

_ Oh Gods, not again. _

It’s the same, day in and day out. Cylon’s jump into range, shoots at the fleet for a couple of minutes, the fleet jumps away, and everything settles back down until it happens again. Felix was beginning to get fed up with stress of having to spool up the FTL drives while everyone shouts at him. Can’t they understand he can’t accurately calculate a jump is the XO is yelling in his ear?

“Sir, I’m getting Colonial transponders,” he heard Dee exclaim from across the CIC.

_ What? That’s impossible. _

“ Hell, now they're using our own signals against us.” Saul Tigh, Adama’s second in command groaned.

A confused look crept to Felix’s face. As far as the fleet was concerned, the Galactica was the only remaining Battlestar that had survived the attack on the colonies. All of the others, the Valkyrie, the Athena, and the Pegasus, or so they thought, had fallen victim to the nuclear strikes by the Cylons.

“Weapons hold, hold the jump too,” the commander ordered the officers.

Felix was internally questioning the Commanders judgement to hold the strike on the unidentified ship. The Cylons had managed to evolve to look like them so it wouldn’t be out of the question for them to begin replicating Colonial transponders as well.

“All ships, Galactica. Hold Jump,” Felix ordered through the comms. “Say again, hold jump.”

The crew awaited their next order. The commander had asked to be put on a private line with the ship claiming to be the Battlestar Pegasus. “Attention unknown vessel, this is the Battlestar Galactica. Identify yourself or you will be fired upon.” Adama calmly yet confidently announced.

Felix communicated the current range of the bogey to the Commander, then awaited the response from it like the rest of the crew.

“This is the Battlestar Pegasus to the ship claiming to be the Galactica. Please respond.”

“No frakking way…” Felix heard the XO mutter under his breath. “Pegasus, how could that be? The entire fleet was destroyed.”

Felix’s mind was racing. He was pretty sure none of the crew of the Galactica were expecting anything of this level to happen. He also wasn’t very fond of the thought of someone outranking him in the area of communications.

“Sir, I’m receiving colonial recognition codes… they’re authentic.” Dee told the Commander.

Another transmission came in from Pegasus. “Galactica this is Pegasus actual… Adama, is that you?”

_ Holy frak it’s— _

“Admiral Cain.”

Felix had heard stories of Admiral Cain from fellow officers before the attack on the colonies. From what he had heard, she wasn’t anything like Adama. She was ruthless, stories had been passed around of her striking her own officers in the line of duty for no other reason than knocking some sense into them. There had even been rumors of her gunning down a fellow superior officer, but that had been told to him by a drunk deckhand at a bar on the Scorpia Shipyards, so Felix made sure to take the story with a heavy grain of Picon salt.

“Commander I don’t know what to say, this is a miracle,” Cain spoke over the channel.

“Took the words right out of my mouth,” Adama smiled as he responded.

Felix heard an incoming transmission from Apollo come over the line, making sure to patch it through the main intercom of the CIC.

“Galactica, Apollo. You're not gonna believe what I’m looking at out here, It’s like a dream,” Lee Adam exclaimed.

“It is a dream,” his father replied.

Felix rubbed his temples softly. All of this action was giving him a headache.

Commander Adama picked up the phone and turned to face the officers around him.

“Attention the crew of Galactica,this is the Commander. At 1500 sharp we will be welcoming the crew of the Battlestar Pegasus to our vessel in order to welcome them to the fleet. Be prepared to look your best and make a good impression,” he spoke, “Remember, most of these officials outrank you all, so don’t do anything stupid.”

An officer from the back of the CIC pretended to cough, managing to fit “Starbuck” in between his fake fit. This earned a couple of chuckles from the other officers, including Felix. Adama did not find it very funny, proceeding to glare at the culprit of the joke.

Commander Adama put down the phone and leaned on the table. “Well, I guess I should go get ready. Can’t be lookin like a frakking bum in front of the Admiral.” He looked at Tigh who was across the table from him, “you should probably do the same,” he said motioning to his now present stubble.

Tigh brought a hand to his face and felt it. Clearly he has not realized how much his facial hair had grown. “Alright, alright.”

Both senior officers then proceeded to leave the CIC. All of the officers began to look around at one another in confusion.

“Well, we can’t all just leave,” someone from the tactical division piped up.

_ Yeah no shit. _

“Not it, to go to the landing party,” an official from the water division spoke just above a whisper

“Not it.” Another tactical officer.

“Not it.”

“Nope not me,”

“I refuse to go to whatever boondoggle the Admiral and the Commander are holding.”   


After that last comment, Felix noticed that everyone had stayed quiet, and was looking at him and a couple of the remaining officers who didn’t say anything. It then dawned upon him that one person from every division had elected to stay, which meant he and the others who stayed quiet were the ones who were unofficially ruled out to go.

“Come on guys, seriously?” Felix glanced over at Dee with an annoyed look, then to all of the people in the room. He sighed, “Fine.” He got up from his station and headed towards the door. He stopped at the exit, he looked over to Dee, who was still sitting in her seat, and motioned for her to follow him.

-

“Get into ranks people! Look sharp this isn’t recess,” Adama barked at everyone crowded on the flight deck.

Felix stood behind the front row of people crowded around the incoming landing party, which included President Roslin, Gaius Baltar, Colonel Tigh and Commander Adama. He saw Starbuck run in at the last second and whisper something to Lee. Tigh stepped out of line and turned to the crew. “Group! Attention!” he shouted.

Everyone straightened their postures and faced forward just as the Raptor from Pegasus had entered the Deck. The hatch opened, and the party began to file out, starting with the marines, then the executive officers, then finally the Admiral herself, Helena Cain.

“Admiral Cain, welcome aboard the Galactica,” Adama greeted the statuesque woman standing in front of him.

“Commander Adama, it’s an honor.” Cain replied. “Colonel, put your men at ease.”

Felix relaxed his shoulders a bit and began to study the alien crew standing in front of him and his familiar team. He made eye contact with who appeared to be the CAG, smiled at him awkwardly, then looked away. Pilots, not his people.

He looked down at his feet for a second, then back up to the members of the Pegasus. This time, he caught the attention of who seemed to be his fellow communications officer. He locked eyes with the brown eyes of the friendly looking guy and brought his lips to a soft smile. Unlike the CAG before him, this guy returned the favor, and smiled back. Felix felt himself start to blush.

_ The frak?  _

That’s when it hit him. The guy that had just smiled warmly at him was kind of cute.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh lord, here we go again. Back with another chapter of this,,,, thing? Hey, at least it's fun to write. Anyways, enjoy chapter two!

“So apparently the Pegasus officers want to play us in a game of pyramid later, no idea if they’re any good, but I guess it could be a nice opportunity to get to know them better,” Helo explained to Felix while applying some shaving cream to his face.

Felix scoffed. “Pyramid?” He had never really been a sports person, only ever playing any games in his elementary years, which he clearly remembered he did not enjoy. He’d always been kind of a nerd.

“Yeah! It could be fun, Felix. Just give it a shot,” Helo spoke carefully as he maneuvered the razor around his face. “Who knows, maybe you’ll find someone that, you know,” he nudged Felix’s shoulder.

Felix rolled his eyes, “Yeah, like anyone who plays pyramid in their free time would be my type.”

-

_ So apparently my type likes pyramid. _

There he was again. That comms guy from the Pegasus landing party, and he was playing  _ pyramid.  _ Felix watched as he ran around with the other players, dressed in his duty tank top and pants. Sweat dripped down his toned arms, which weren’t skinny, but not muscular like Lee’s or Karl’s. His brown hair was flopping in his face as he caught the ball and passed it to another player.

His trance was broken by a firm slap on the back, “Hey you decided to show up!” Helo exclaimed. 

Felix winced at his hand meeting his back. Karl had good intentions, he really did, but the guy really undermined his strength nine times out of ten. Felix shook his shoulders and recomposed himself. “Yeah thought I would just come to, you know, check things out,” he faked, which he apparently wasn’t doing too well. He was still staring at Pegasus-comms-guy, and hadn’t even realized it. However, Helo definitely did notice, and was smirking at him.

He cocked an eyebrow at Helo, “What?”

Helo looked at him, then to Pegasus guy, then back to him. “Don’t even try to hide it, Felix,” he said snickering.

Felix felt his face start to flush, “I seriously have no idea what you're talking about, Karl,” he replied, accenting Helo’s first name in a facetious manner.

“You totally have the hots for that guy,” motioning to the comms guy, who had just scored a point, causing everyone on the Pegasus side to cheer and the Galactica side to collectively sigh.

Multiple players came up to slap him on the back like Helo had done earlier. This guy, like Felix, was also recoiling at all of their impacts. 

_ Poor thing, _ Felix thought.

“How do you know, huh?” Felix questioned, crossing his arms.

“I’ve seen that look before, you looked like that first time you saw Dr. Baltar.” Helo explained.

“Did not!” Felix punched him in the arm, which probably felt like a tickle to Helo’s massive frame.

“Did too.”

“No, I didn’t”

“Felix everyone in the fleet thought you and Gaius Baltar were frakking for a good while.”

“Wait really?” Felix asked, a surprised look jumping to his face.

Helo nodded, “Yeah, Starbuck and Racetrack set up a bet for whoever correctly guessed who you were frakking, most of the pilots and deckhands said Gaius, some of the marines Lee—yes you heard that correctly—and apparently some of the CIC crew said you and I were hooking up,” He laughed. “But this was before the Pegasus crew arrived, so I’m sure everyone will be recasting their bets sooner or later.”

_ Oh Starbuck you  _ **_ASS._ **

Of course she and Racetrack were betting on his relationship. The two of them were like giggling school girls, always teasing Felix about whether or not he had a boyfriend or not. Racetrack was okay, she would only bug him minimally—usually in a friendly manner—which he didn’t really mind and frankly thought it was funny at times that she cared so much. Starbuck however, got on his last nerve almost everyday. She would persistently question Felix’s relationship status and pester him until he gave a clear answer. If he said he was with someone, she would be telling the entire crew within seconds, and if he said no she would call him a loser and remind him he’s going to die alone, which wasn’t the best encouragement in a time of war against a race of homicidal robots.

Felix sighed, “Anyways, I’m thinking of heading out of here. I came, I saw the sweaty guys playing the sport, and now that I’ve seen that I’m sure I’ve seen it all.”

Helo looked like a sad puppy, “Oh come on man, don’t be such a downer, stay a bit longer!”

Felix shook his head, “Why do you want me here so badly? Look, Racetrack and Hotdog are over there, go pester them about their love lives. To be honest, I have no clue why you and everyone else aboard this ship is so interested in me,” he snarked.

“It’s cause you’re, I don’t know, mysterious? No one has ever really seen you accompanied by anyone. Like, ever. Even Dee hasn’t seen you with someone, Felix. And you guys shared an apartment!” Helo seemed genuinely invested in the search for a mate for Felix. He himself wasn’t sure whether to be flattered or terrified of everyone's fascination surrounding his affair of the heart.

“Yeah well, you don’t need to worry your pretty little, well, giant head about it. Karl.” He rose to his tippy toes to pat his companion on the head. I’m going back to the racks to drown my sorrows in ambrosia, you're free to join if you would like.” Felix intended for that to be a joke, but the more he thought about it, the more it sounded like an excellent idea. He could really use a drink about now.

Felix had barely managed to take two steps away when Helo reached and grabbed his arm. “Nope, you are not going  _ anywhere _ , buddy.” His forearm clenched under Helo’s grasp. 

“Ow! What the frak was that for?” Felix rubbed the spot where Karl had gripped his arm.

“Take off your shirt, Felix,” Helo directed.

Felix froze and gasped, maybe Helo did want to take things to another level…

He rolled his eyes, “Leave your duty tank on, dumbass. You and I are gonna play pyramid.”

Felix relaxed a little, but not totally. He couldn’t shoot pyramid in a bar, let alone play against other people. He was also terrified he would embarrass himself in front of fellow cute communications guy. 

“Helo wait, I- I don’t know how to play…” Felix admitted.”

Helo smiled, “It’s not hard bud, the goal is basically to get the ball in the hole and not get it stolen by the other team. Sounds easy enough, right?”

_ No? _

-

Felix shrugged his shoulder a couple of times as he prepared himself, both menatlly and physically, for the upcoming round. The people who were playing before had mostly rotated out, and new players were coming in. A few players from the last round had stayed, including Pegasus comms guy.  _ Great,  _ Felix thought to himself, _ If I frak up he’s for sure gonna see. _

“You excited? Nervous? Lovestruck perhaps?” Helo teased, also warming up alongside him.

“Shut up Agathon.” Felix replied with a chuckle. At least Karl was a good wingman, he had to admit that.

Helo cracked his knuckles and shook them out, “Alright, you ready for this?”

Felix made a little _pfft_ sound with his lips, “As I’ll ever be I guess.”


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back again >:)))))))) anywho, this has been my favorite chapter to write so far, so I hope you all enjoy it. This week this chapter is dedicated to the person I'm currently pining over, even though they have no idea that this exists... but that's besides the point! The reason this is dedicated to them is because they currently have me feeling like Felix in this story, you know,,, a smitten idiot,,,
> 
> Also, thank you to all 24 of you who have read this hellish project! you're the best and ily!

Next thing he knew there was a throbbing pain in the side of his head. Felix brought a hand to his temple and rubbed the sore spot, then realized he was lying on the floor. He tried to get up, but was met with Helo guiding him back down to the ground.

“Hey, hey, easy buddy. You're hurt.” He explained.

“What- how?” Felix asked, baffled by how all of this had happened.

“You got clocked in the head by a pyramid ball,” Helo lifted up a lock of Felix’s curly black hair and drew his hand over the giant bruise on his forehead, “here, take this,” Helo put an icepack on the swelling, “keep this there.”

Felix must have been hit in the head quite hard, for him to not even remember how he had been injured. “Did we at least win?”

Helo and most of the other Galactica players cringed, “Uh, well, we got about ten minutes into the round then you got hit. We were down by five points.”

_ Oh. _ Felix was questioning why he ever agreed to play in the first place, this was exactly what he feared what would happen, embarrassing himself in front of Pegasus guy. _ WAIT A SECOND. _

Felix shot up, totally disregarding the extreme pain he was still in. He searched the room for Comms guy, he eventually spotted him slumping in a corner, looking sadder than usual. He was surrounded by some of the other Pegasus team.“What’s up with them?”

One of the Galactica team members, a Deckhand by the looks, rubbed his face “Who’s gonna tell him?”

Helo put a hand on his shoulder, “You were doing really good, you really were. But then you tried to intercept a pass from the other team and, well, you know what happened.”

Felix brought his palm to his face,“Karl I told you this was a bad idea!” he hissed.

He motioned towards the other team, “Can you at least tell me who threw the pass?”

Helo recoiled, “I can, but you're not gonna like the answer, Felix.”

“Just tell me!” Felix replied, harsher than he intended to sound.

Helo sighed this time, “It was the guy. The comms guy.”

Felix just sat there trying to process what Helo had just said. It was one thing to be embarrassed in front of the person he was pining over, and a whole other thing to  _ be embarrassed _ by that same person. He couldn’t be mad at him though, he knew the guy didn’t mean any harm, he was just trying to play the game for Gods’sake!

Felix was going to tell Helo that, explain why he had no hard feelings, when all of a sudden, he showed up. He being the  _ Cute-head-injuring-communications officer-from-the-Battlestar Pegasus _ guy.

“Hey, I just wanted to say I’m sorry about,” he pointed to his forehead, “that.”

Felix had to admit, his apology sounded sincere. His eyes looked as though they were laced with sadness.  _ Damn this guy doesn’t even know me, yet he looks like he’s gonna cry. I’m starting to feel sorry for him and he’s not even the one on the ground in pain... _

He looked for the right words to say.  _ Frak… He’s talking to me. What do I do? _

“Okay,” was all he managed to muster up. He felt his heart begin to race, _ No you idiot! _

The other guy raised his eyebrows “Oh, uh, if you—”

“No!” Felix bursted out.

The other guy looked so confused. 

_ Help. _

Felix looked up at Helo for some assistance. He looked like he was going to die of laughter at any second.

“I meant, it’s okay. I don’t blame you at all.” He smiled. Felix looked over to see Helo miming gagging himself. Felix scowled, and looked back at the Pegasus guy, who was now holding out his hand to help him up.

Felix accepted his offer, and half-heartedly managed to get up from his seated position. He winced as he got up, not only did his head hurt, but his backside was sore from sitting on the cold, metal floor.

“Gods, I think I need to go to the sickbay. I need Doc to set me up with some painkillers,” Felix laughed as though he was joking, but he knew he was serious.

“I’ll walk you, just in case you need anything on the way,” The Pegasus guy offered.

Felix smiled, “Thanks.”

The two of them began to leave. On their way out, Felix caught sight of Helo pursing his lips and giving him “OK” signs with his hands. Felix shook his head and rolled his eyes.

He and his companion made their way through the brightly-lit hallways of the Galactica. The light was hurting Felix’s head. Now that he thought of it, literally everything was hurting his head. Everything except the cute guy from the superior Battlestar walking alongside of him.

Felix wanted to say something, but he couldn't think of possibly anything that wouldn’t make this more awkward than it already was.  _ You imbecile, ask for his name! _ He told himself. It suddenly dawned upon him that he still had no clue what his name even was. 

“So you hit me in the head so hard you leave a bruise, yet you don’t even tell me your name so I can forgive you,” Felix playfully spoke.

His companion might have taken his remark too seriously, as he stopped mid-stride and faced Felix. “I’m sorry, I—I totally forgot—It’s Hoshi, Louis Hoshi.”

He reached out his hand to shake Felix’s, “Gaeta, Felix Gaeta,” he replied in a jokingly serious tone. The two shook hands to the point when it got awkward. Neither of them were taking away their hand from the other person, so they had no clue when to stop. 

Louis eventually retracted his hand, but only to bring it to Felix’s forehead to check on his injury. “I really got you good, didn’t I?”

Felix giggled, “I’ll live.”

Their conversation began to pick up as they winded their ways throughout the ship. Felix told Louis about his life story and how he found his way amongst the ranks of the colonial fleet, and Louis returned the favor, telling him about his life before the attack on their homes

“Your Sagittarion?” Felix questioned.

Louis nodded, “Yeah enlisted when I was 16, I became fed up with the ways of living down there. Everyone was so stuck up about keeping to old ways, it set us back from the other colonies. So, I decided to join the military, it was a way to escape easily. Of course, my parents were pissed,” Louis stopped, “They said they never wanted to see my face again.”

Felix felt a little pang in his heart for Louis.

“The sadness went away over time, and it became replaced with a feeling of pride for my position, as cheesy as it sounds. I felt like I finally had a purpose, you know? I was no longer that loser kid from Tawa. I had become a respected military official, well, in the ranks of the Pegasus.”

Felix sat there soaking up every word, he must have appeared to be zoned out though, “Am I rambling? I’m sorry…” Hoshi spoke softly.

Felix’s eyes widened, “No! No, absolutely not. I’m actually thinking about how proud I am of you.”

_ Subtle, Felix. Subtle. _

Louis’ face turned a deep shade of crimson. “Thank you,” he said barely above a whisper

Felix pat him on the back, “Come on, let’s get to the sickbay, I feel like my head is about to explode.”

  
  



	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so you might notice this chapter is VERY short... I've been super busy with the end of the quarter coming up and haven't had much time to write, but I promise things will start picking up here soon. enjoy!!!
> 
> (also I acknowledge the word "Gay" doesn't exist in the battlestar universe, but I had to include it in this chapter,,, for funnies)
> 
> ALSO, ya'll get a little Starbuck in the chapter.... as a treat.

“Just frakkin’ admit it already Felix Gay, you _totally_ have a crush on that CIC geek.”

Starbuck prodded him in the arm as they sat around a table, playing a game of triad.

It had been a week since the Pyramid incident, and Felix still had a nasty bruise on his forehead, but he was slowly but surely getting better.

He rolled his eyes, “I’m not telling you a thing, Starbuck. You have no reason to be concerned with my love life.”

Starbuck waved him off, “Yeah well your love life could potentially win me 100 Cubits, so get to frakkin’ Hoshi already.”

Felix’s face flushed.

“Told you! He definitely has the hots for him!” Racetrack chimed in.

Felix gave an exasperated exhale, “Why does everyone think I have a thing for Louis? We’re just good friends, that’s all.”

Both Starbuck and Racetrack started to giggle manically.

“What?” Felix said in an annoyed tone.

“It’s just… You called him _Louis._ ” Racetrack pointed out.

“Frak me...” Felix rolled his eyes again, for like the fifth time this hour.

“Sure, but you gotta do _Louis_ first.” Starbuck teased. She threw down her cards, “Full colors, I’m outta here,” she collected her prizes, a piece of gum and 10 cubits, and went out the hatch.

-

Louis came to visit him at his station in the CIC a day later.

Felix raised and eyebrow, "You don't work here. How did you even get on board?"

Louis laughed, "I have my ways."

He placed something in front of him, it took Felix a second to realize what it even was.

“A… bracelet?” Felix picked up the object to examine it. It had a mix of intertwining shiny materials, probably a metal of some kind. This one had the crest of Sagittaron’s patron god, Zeus, on it.

“Back on Sagittaron, we used to wear these. As a sign of faith to the Gods and for good health and fortune,” Louis held up his wrist and pulled back the sleeve of his uniform, doing so revealed a matching accessory. 

Felix snickered, “What is this, some kind of bribery for my friendship?” He lifted his hand up to Louis’ wrist and drew a finger of the delicate piece of jewelry. 

Louis blushed softly when Felix’s hand made contact briefly with his skin. “Well, bribery no. More like an apology for when I gave you that shiner.”

The two laughed in unison, earning some stares from other officers in the bridge. Felix and Louis both stopped when it finally clicked how unprofessional it must have looked. 

“Well, I have to get back to my station, see you later,” Louis waved as he left.

Felix went back to what he was doing, toying around with some of the consoles. He checked up on some star charts and checked in with some of the other vessels of the fleet. He had trouble focusing though, his mind was wholeheartedly set on Louis.


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is late... again. I was on vacation this past weekend, and yesterday was my birthday! So I've been kinda busy. Plus, the end of the quarter was last week, and everything was hectic so I didn't have much time to write, but i finally got around to continuing, so here you go! this is as good of a gift as you guys are gonna get (even though I should be the one getting the gifts here...)

The next week was an absolute mess.

The Admiral had been assassinated, the fleet had put on a full fledged attack against the cylons with them on the offense, and worst of all, he didn’t get to see Louis once, with everything happening on  _ Pegasus _ , he had no time to catch a Raptor over to  _ Galactica _ and come see Felix.

Felix sat at his station and massaged the bridge of his nose. A headache was kicking in, a bad one. He got up from his seat and glanced around the CIC. No one in his inner circle was present. Dee was probably on her break, Helo might have been out on a training exercise with some of the  _ Pegasus _ ECO’s, he finally came to the conclusion that he was alone.

He glanced down at his watch, he had about five minutes until his shift ended and the evening watch would ensue.  _ It can’t hurt if I leave now… right? _

And with that Felix had begun to skirt quietly out of the bridge, trying his best not to look too suspicious. He almost made it, until right as he had almost made it out of the door, Tigh stepped right in front of his path.

_ Really. _

“Mr. Gaeta, your shift doesn’t end until,” Tigh rolled up the sleeve of his duty blue and checked his watch, “1700 Hours,”

Felix laughed nervously, “Well Kernel, it is 1658 and I am _ starving _ and I could use a drink, want to join me?” Felix anxiously attempted to step his way past Tigh while also trying to talk his ear off to distract him, it usually worked, and would end with him shooing away Gaeta. This time however he grabbed his wrist and yanked him back to the doorway.

“And what happened if the Cylons attacked right at 1659? And you were away from your station? How would you feel if everyone was at risk of being compromised all because you had a hankering for something in the mess, huh?” Tigh berated.

Felix winced, other officers had begun to give awkward gazes to the confrontation happening between the Kernel and a junior Lieutenant.

“What’s going on here?”

Both Tigh and Felix whipped their heads around to face the new voice. Dee stood right beside them, clearly trying to hold in her laughter. “I’m here to relive Felix from his shift.”

Tigh rolled his eyes, then proceeded to prod Felix in the chest with his finger, “This is the last time I’ll be so easy on you Lieutenant…” he growled.

Felix gave a salute to the man, even though Tigh probably knew he was being ironic, “yes sir, I’ll report back here at 0900.”

Tigh left for the bridge without saying another word. Dee came up to him and punched him in the arm, “you owe me big time.”

“Frak yeah I do, see you later?” Felix began to walk backwards out the door while simultaneously trying to maintain the conversation.

“Maybe depends whether or not Mr. Grouch over here—”

“Lieutenant Dualla!” 

Dee jumped “Coming right away sir!” She spoke back. She gave a goodbye wave to Felix and walked away to her station.

Felix eventually found himself back in the communal officer racks lying down on his bunk. He was hungry, but also didn’t feel like dealing with the people in the mess, and a good amount of rack time sure felt good right then…

Before he knew it, he was dozing off peacefully in what he had come to known as a bed for the past four years.

-

“Action station. Action stations. Set condition one throughout the fleet, this is not a drill. I repeat this is not a drill.”

Felix threw back the cover and snapped open his eyes. He searched the room for anyone else being rudely awakened by the incoming threat of the cylons, but he appeared to be the only one.

A bad feeling came to Felix, he looked over at the clock on the wall. It read 1100.

Felix brought both of his palms to his face, ”DAMMIT!”

Apparently he hadn’t even bothered to take off his uniform when he fell asleep, cause when he went to search for it in his locker it wasn’t there, which led him to discover that it was still on his body.

He came barreling out of the hatch and charged towards the CIC. In all of his years as part of the Colonial Fleet, not once had he ever been late.  _ Well, I guess there’s a first time for everything. _

-

“Well, I guess there’s a first time for everything.” The newly promoted  _ Admiral _ Adama muttered under his breath. 

At first it was hard to register what the tiny blip on the DRADIS was. It definitely wasn’t a Raider, however it was flying very strangely for a colonial craft, sporadically making jumps away and back, rolling over itself, and other movements not commonly associated with the training pilots were taught at the academy.

“If it’s not the cylons then what the frak is that thing out there?” Tigh spoke to the Admiral.

“Sir it  _ appears _ to be a colonial craft,” Felix explained.

Tigh dismissed his remark, “Mr. Gaeta you just rolled out of your rack ten minutes ago, why should we be trusting your judgement?”

Felix had to admit, Tigh had a point. But still, he didn’t like it when his work was second guessed.

“Sir I can confirm, the transponders from this craft are colonial, I think it might be one the  _ Pegasus _ raptors. We haven’t had the time to log them all in our system yet,” Dee chimed in, saving Felix’s ass once more.

Tigh didn’t like being proven wrong, especially when it was by an officer he greatly outranked, but even he could,’t deny the facts.

“Well has anyone tried to contact it?” Adama asked.

“No sir, doing that now,” Felix cued up some things at his station and attempted to reach the unidentified craft circling about the fleet. “Unidentified craft, this is  _ Galactica, _ please identify your personnel aboard. I repeat please identify yourself.”

At first there was only the sound of static over the comms, then a voice popped up out of the white noise.

“Uh,  _ Galactica _ , this is Lieutenant Hoshi of the  _ Pegasus _ .”

Felix had to laugh. “Louis can fly?!”

Adama picked up the phone and Felix patched him through to the Raptor. “Lieutenant Hoshi, I seem to remember that last time we met, you didn’t have your flight wings.” Even the Admiral was smiling at this point.

“Uh, Admiral, this is Lieutenant Allison, me and Hoshi were just out here on a training exercise. Nothing to be concerned about.” Felix recognized the voice as Narcho, another one of the Pegasus viper jocks.

“Lieutenants, I don’t remember authorizing any Raptor training exercises.” Adama was trying to keep a stern exterior, but it was evident by the slight glint in his eyes that he found this just as funny as everyone else in the CIC.

Narcho jumped in to explain their little escapade. “Sorry Admiral, Hoshi was trying to earn his wings and he wanted me to teach him. You may check with the  _ Pegasus, _ we were authorized by Commander Fisk.” 

Adama signaled for Dee to check up with the sister ship. A couple minutes later, she reported back. “It says they’re clear sir.”

“Sorry for taking your time, Lieutenants. Have a safe flight,” Adama called.

“Yes sir. Thank you sir,” Hoshi spoke with a shaky voice. Clearly this was his first true experience flying. Felix couldn’t help but smile to himself as he stared down at the junior flight wings pinned to the breast of his uniform.

  
  



End file.
